Institutionalized elderly people are addressed by caregivers in secondary babytalk speech (BT), a distinctive speech register that is "typically" used with small children, and in non-babytalk speech (NBT). The two speech registers are linguistically and paralinguistically differentiated from the normal adult speech used by caregivers to speak with each other. The hypothesis for the proposed investigation is that these speech registers are functionally differentiated as well: BT communicates to elderly people a consistent and positive message; NBT is part of an inconsistent message--a contradiction between verbal, vocal and behavioral activity that is associated with the promotion of helplesness in elderly people. A field study will be conducted to gather audiotape recordings and observational records to determine caregiver and carereceiver behaviors associated with the use of BT and NBT. A discourse analysis will be performed on transcripts of the audiotapes to determine the verbally communicated intent. Finally, a judgment study will be done with judges drawn from the population of institutionalized elderly to determine their preferences for the different speech registers. The proposed investigation will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms promoting helplessness and dependency among elderly people who rely on institutional facilities.